Asthma Guidelines – What You Need to Know
It may surprise you to learn that there are more than seven million children who suffer from asthma, with more than one million of these children being younger than five! Whats more surprising is that this number includes only children with asthma in the Unites States. Asthma is a serious respiratory condition characterized by wheezing, tightness in the chest and shortness of breath. Asthma can cause children to miss out on typical childhood activities and even miss school.
Asthma attacks may be in varying levels of severity. To learn more about the different classifications of childhood asthma and the treatments indicated for the condition, parents can contact the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, which publishes a set of asthma guidelines and works in the interest of assisting parents and children to manage the disease.
Doctors use the asthma guidelines as a way to manage a childs asthma. How they manage the asthma attacks will depend on the childs symptoms and the severity of the attacks. Doctors will monitor the childs ability to control their asthma attacks with the medications they have been prescribed.
If a child is showing signs of improvement then the doctor may decrease the medication in the hopes of being able to take the child off it completely. If the child worsens then the doctor may increase the medication or try a combination of medications to control the attacks.
The asthma guidelines set forth goals that the doctors try to meet when determining a plan of treatment for a child with asthma. If the goals are not being met then the doctor will re-evaluate the childs condition and make adjustments. Some of the goals the doctors are looking for are if your childs asthma is limiting their activities such as playing with other kids or missing school.
Your doctor will also watch your childs progress, especially in the first few days to monitor for side effects and for how well the medication is doing in preventing asthma attacks in your child.
There are different classifications of childhood asthma laid out in the asthma guidelines. One classification is mild intermittent, meaning that the child has symptoms no more than twice a week. The next most serious classification is mild persistent, where the child displays symptoms more than twice a week, perhaps daily.
The next classification is moderate persistent, meaning that there are daily symptoms and the highest level is severe persistent. This classification indicates daily and nightly symptoms of asthma. If your child suffers from asthma, you should discuss their health and the asthma classifications with your physician.